Among the many peculiarities of art from Pakistan, one is the link of its major artists with art education. Trained at art schools, they prefer to have jobs at art schools along with working in their studios.
One may assume this custom is rooted in the master-pupil tradition of Indian subcontinent. However in India, with the exception of Baroda College of Art, and Shantiniketan School in the past, no mainstream artist is employed at an art school. Subodh Gupta and Vivan Sundaram are not professors of art in New Delhi but Rashid Rana and Imran Qureshi are teaching at different art institutions in Lahore.
While teaching, artists are unable to devote more time to their own practice. Yet it also gives them an illusion or satisfaction of being productive, useful and creative. Thus, with the passage of time, their art practice declines and so does the number of their exhibitions.
On the other hand, the presence of celebrated artists at art institutions is a great source of inspiration for young artists. Even if it is not a direct class room/studio exercise, the awareness that a great artist is there to look at their work moves the young students to perform well. I had experienced this with Professor Zahoor ul Akhlaq at NCA. Without a formal tutoring in the classroom, the possibility of him seeing my painting, and the hope that he may comment on it, was enough to produce better work.
Akhlaq’s teaching methodology was not conventional or structured. Talking to students while having tea at his office, standing in the college lawn, or in front of his own canvas, his discussions opened up new avenues to understand art and its making. His example suggests there is not a single course of art teaching as long as one succeeds in transforming a student into an artist.
The exhibition Silsila 2015 was a form of celebrating multiple modes of imparting the knowledge of art. A project of Studio RM, the group show held from April 19-May 16, 2015 at the Sanat Initiative, Karachi was a tribute to teachers, and included artists who, in one way or the other, are connected to Studio RM. A total of 20 artists participated with one work each, except Mizna Baloch with four works and Ali Kazim with two.
Some of the participants are highly respected as art teachers or independent artists, so the exhibition brought forth a range of approaches and styles. Usually one associates a certain manner or technique with a particular institution or group of individuals, but in Silsila (literally meaning lineage/linkage) there was no connection in terms of aesthetic preferences or practices.
The participants were invited to make works in four genres: Calligraphy, Still Life, Landscape and Portrait. All of them investigated these rather conventional genres in a different manner and the viewer did not get a clue about the premise of the exhibition by merely looking at the works.
Almost all artists moved beyond that initial point; their link with Studio RM was not revealed through their imagery. Actually all of them have been working as independent professionals and their works at the Sanat Initiative marked this diversity too. Perhaps, the choice of four words contributed towards thinking differently; these basic terms helped in producing some interesting and imaginative works, reflecting a merger between the artists’ styles and new ideas/possibilities.
For example, the Muhammad Zeeshan’s ‘In God We Trust’ was based upon calligraphy but it reminds one of the artist’s previous works and his interest in blending political issues with formal concerns. Constructed with varying shades of greys, this graphite on sandpaper is made like the US flag with words about seeking God’s mercy and help inscribed in straight lines.
Zeeshan has been using dark surfaces with minimal colours to create visuals from traditional miniatures (sometimes submerging them into black ink - as was seen at India Art Fair 2015). But the present work offers a complexity of concept and craft.
Almost similar in mode is the work of Adeel uz Zafar who, unlike his previously scratched wrapped figurines, created a flag-like panel with kalma on top and two swords underneath. Again with minimum difference in the tones of black for background and the one used for letters and swords, ‘Black Standard’ alludes to the notions of sacredness and grief attached to black colour, and could be read as a metaphor for present conditions of Muslim countries.
Exploring the shades of greys further, Ali Kazim displayed two works with pigments on polyester drafting film which showed clouds. The sensitivity in rendering this form creates a strong sense of atmosphere. Both works convey the advent of storm and one could imagine the dust clouds spreading small particles in the surroundings. The sophisticated use of medium was matched with the subtlety of subject.
The artist’s command on craft was equally evident in Kiran Saleem’s ‘Untitled’ oil on canvas. She chose the genre of portrait, and in her work one could see the print of a European figure stuck on white canvas with white tape. It was painted in such a meticulous manner that one had to come close to the canvas in order to discover that all of this was made by the artist.
A number of other works reflected the way the artists interpret themes with their thoughts -- such as Saba Khan’s ‘Eating Fries’, a portrait of a woman fabricated with beads and acrylic on paper that indicate the growing interest of Khan in popular imagery and kitsch aesthetics.
Along with the works on display, the catalogue of the exhibition was also an impressive endeavour: a valuable document not only for the text about artists and their art works but also the charming photographs of all artists in their studio spaces, at homes or other places. Somehow, more than the works on the walls or printed in the catalogue, these black and white pictures of the artists affirm that we have arrived at the stage of contemporary in our art.